At the Helm (HIVE)

Leather framework squeaked as Pix sat back into the provided chair. An ergonomic design relieved all spinal pressure, causing him to slouch heavily in absolute comfort. Outside it was muggy and tempestuous. Thank goodness tonight's work didn't require him to set foot outside the HIVE central control room. Gripping a sleek remote, Hugh switched on a music player which began a track from Pink Floyd's album Dark Side of the Moon. But Pix was unable to keep his mind from spinning, the cogs from turning. In mere moments his personally plotted plan would come into fruition. The sprite fancied his reputation hung in the balance. He did not suspect that this gifted opportunity was a test devised by TIBERIUS. Their boss was less concerned with his image than his results.

It had come about naturally enough. The prehistoric powerhouse consulted Pix from time to time. Pix felt TIBERIUS was using his input as a rough draft to perfect his own plans. He was not so naïve as to imagine he was the only one who provided such input. However, what he contributed must have resonated. For the first time ever HIVE was conducting a group exercise under the command of someone other than TIB. In fact, the boss himself had delegated himself to a pawn for the duration. All responsibility resided squarely on Pix's shoulders. But so did all the resources.

The abundance of operational assets had Hugh in a tizzy at first. He couldn't imagine completing his plan without utilising every single option available. But common sense had reined him in. Overly complex plans were doomed to failure. He had to settle for semi complex. Under his bidding, a group of professional hackers and launderers on TIBERIUS' payroll succeeded in creating a fake company. That company had placed an order. And now the transport freight was sailing towards port. A container ship was nearing Jump City docks.

HIVE were ready to intercept.

Pix dialled in to the communicators of his team, "Remember. I can stop them radioing for help, but I can't do anything about signal flares. So play your disguises for as long as possible." The ship would still be in open water, but that didn't mean a flare wouldn't be seen by the Coast Guards, "Also remember to go by call signs. I'm 'Team Leader'. Everybody say it with me. Team. Lea-der." If it wasn't so agonising watching someone else try to capture the brilliance of his plan, this would be the most fun Pix had ever had.

Kris was in his Coast Guard garbs, whistling Daisy Bell. He stepped onto the boat, hauling a container of M-16s with stun rounds onto the deck. 
"Hey, Team Leader, who's driving this thing?" He asked as he inspected each rifle, making sure they wouldn't jam and that the sights were accurate. He had tested them a hundred times before taking them to the docks, but he always liked to make sure. 
"Hmm, if anyone breaks any of these...." Kris mumbled under his breath, he was ready to get the show on the road.

Blake was following Kris at the moment. They didn't have one exactly in her size so Blake's sleeves were a bit long and the hat was a bit big. That was good though, it hid her ears much better this way. "Wow, team leader. Way to be a narsasist, Mario." She was simply carrying her Gambol Shroud. It was contained in a dummy sheath that couldn't cut anyone, making it a blunt tool for knockouts. The gun inside contained stun rounds for any guards she hit with it. "And I swear to god if someone gives me a cat-pun for a nickname, I will skin you when we're done here."

Nina had brought nothing but her disguise to the show, she didn't need any fancy weapons. Trying to walk normally despite having her tails stuffed down the legs of the trousers and her ears stuffed in the hat "hey guys can I be called Foxtrot?" she asked, of course she had no idea of the military meaning of the word, it was just because of of the 'fox' in it. She helped load stuff onto the boat and looked busy like she was trying to help.

Tiberius keyed on the radio from his place clinging to the bottom of their ship. He wasn't exactly made to be stealthy. "Cut the chatter, we go by initials in the field. It's harder to identify anyone no names and no nicknames, no exceptions, I'll deal with anyone who disobeys personally. Team leader, whats out ETA for this intercept?" He started climbing up the bottom of the ship so he could get to the transport ship easily when they arrived. He'd have to scale the ship itself unlike the others, no ladder was going to hold up to his weight.

He wasn't going to begrudge the sprite the name, if everything turned out the way the plan should... well time tells all things and there's no reason to jump the gun. Speaking of guns he was able to look out of the water and see where their flares were. He could scale the ship to there and prevent them going off entirely, at least from that point. But that wasn't up to him. "Team leader, I have long range visual on a set of flares. How should I proceed."

((OOC: If we could assume a time skip and say your boat is in open water already, thank you.))

A thrill went through Hugh as TIBERIUS himself used his call-sign. Truthfully, since the entire team already had codenames, it was unnecessary to use a second pseudonym. The sprite had just gotten carried away and naturally their actual boss had cleared up the confusion as he should. Yet he still found it fitting to award Pix his lofty title. Bless that dinosaur! (T_T)

Previously when asked, Pix had indicated that Blake was to drive, "You just drive forwards. There's next to no steering involved. How hard can it be, right?" He'd said. Given the options available to him, Blake had been the safest choice. Whilst the majority of her Guild training remained a mystery to Hugh, he was willing to wager that they'd covered motorised vehicles somewhere in their curriculum.

"Acknowledged. Let the skeleton crew up top do their thing first. Only breech cover if the situation deteriorates. That is if their story is blown. At this current stage of the operation you're our ace in the hole. Well, our Godzilla in the sea." Pix took a moment to key in some commands into the computer in front of him. The resources of TIBERIUS had provided him with access to local hydrophones which allowed him to pinpoint ship locations in the local waters, "Space looks good. No interlopers in your immediate vicinity. Skeleton crew, you may hail them." He sat back into his seat before shooting forward again to press the transmission button again, "Do it properly, guys. Don't you dare say 'avast'."

Kris walked up to the intercom and cleared his throat, he had been practicing what seemed like a minor role, but meant the difference between getting caught or getting access. Kris stood tall and puffed out his chest, he looked like a full grown man with the way he was carrying himself and with the Military uniform. "Attention, crew of the USS Adhara, this is Captain Anderson of the United States Coast Guard. Prepare to be boarded, any suspicious activities will be met with detainment, as will any obstructions of our presence upon your ship. Authorization : 5-7-4-Delta-Niner." Kris motioned for Blake to bring the ship around the side, clipping an M-16 to his back.

Blake nodded, turning the wheel as best she could. She wasn't used to sailing, she didn't even go near water. Water is dumb and stupid, and wet. Not a good place for a cat girl to be. Once she brought the boat to a stop, she stepped onto the deck of the boat with her other HIVE students and smiled, trying to stand in the way of Nina as best she could. Her tails were...pretty freakin' obvious. "Alright now what?" She whispered into her earpiece to Pix.

Nina smiled at Blake, appreciating the help but at the moment she looked like just a woman with a rather large buttocks. She waited for the commands from Pix as she got ready to do whatever he had planned for her. 'Lets get this done and over with, I'm starting to get a little queezy' she thought hopefully as she adjusted her hat and pulled her trousers up, breathing slowly as she stared ahead at the other boat.

TIBERIUS was so far unable to reveal himself, he had no role yet and was able to do nothing more than swim over to cling to the hull of the ship, if everything went bad he could always just sink them and they could salvage the whole ship. It'd be a success either way. Hopefully everything went smoothly though, time would tell.

"Break into a rendition of happy birthday. What do you mean 'now what'?! The plan was perfectly outlined in a step-by-step grid, I drew spider diagrams, I even-" Pix caught himself before he could continue. It was unprofessional to let your exasperation show. They were now on board having encountered minimal hassle. Judging by the brief exchange, the crew of the USS Adhara had taken the sight of an official uniform at face value when coupled with a forthright command. Authority should be questioned more often. It was this exact lack of scrutiny which allowed various independent heroes to thrive. Hugh held nothing but contempt for the soon-to-be grisly fates of these simple-minded sailors.
 
No not death. Inevitable insurance company refusals. Not many ships were covered for piracy in Jump City's waters.
 
Holding his head in both hands as if to quash a headache, Pix steeled himself for a recital. He needed to summarise his elaborate twenty-four page dossier into brisk yet all-inclusive bullet points for benefit of his team. They were not going to mess this up for him.
 
"Listen up. Play it nice. Big smiles. You need to check their inventory on a private case. Push your weight as far as it'll go. Zero be by that computer terminal whether they go for the story or not. Do not let anyone wipe the data. We can bypass passwords if need be. Black skirt the ship, look for any excuse to be in that engine room. Clarify - to be invited into that engine room. Cut power on signal, permanently, too risky to be left on. Kitsune, centralise yourself on the ship. On cue you spread out, swarm the crew, chuck those flares overboard. TIBERIUS keep an eye out of any enterprising soul who wants to steal our ride, on situational advice from Kitsune you will intercede on the flare issue if necessary." Pix threw himself back in his chair as he let out an exhaustive gasp. Opening his eyes he knew now that there could be no mistake on his clarifications. What they didn't remember from his written report they would know now. Also upon opening his eyes he could see that the transmit button was disengaged. They hadn't heard a word of it, "Dammit!"
 
He turned the transmission back on, "Just take the damn ship."

Kris stood by the console, he read the folders and knew his instructions, something Blake obviously didn't do. He looked at her, "Private! I need you to head to the engine room! Look for any suspicious activity!" Kris had a commanding voice, so it wasn't hard to believe that he was a Coast Guard Captain. Kris then looked at Nina, hoping she knew her instructions, if not, this was a problem, he couldn't say flat out she had to clone herself and swarm the crew, so he gave her a phantom instruction, "I want you to begin searching the crates! We have a limited window! Move! Move! Move!"

Blake had read her instructions! Pix just felt the need to use every official name possible and absolutely NO PICTURES! Blake gave Kris a quick salute and ran down the stairs, hoping into the ships rafters a soon as she was out of sight and ripping off the hat. MUCH better. Now she could hear everything on the ship. "Alright so I'm looking for a...?" She asked quietly, moving in absolute silence on all fours like a cat. "And I know nothing about ships. So leave all the technical terms out."